Welcome to Conjunction Junction

In law school you do a lot of writing.  Between advocacy classes, legal writing classes, taking exams, taking notes, writing outlines, writing articles, and even just writing e-mails, a law student will write a ridiculous amount of words over her time in school.  I’m told that you write even more as a lawyer.   In order to be taken seriously, grammar is important.

Between you and me, I’m the queen of comma splices, and when I get excited, I tend to mix up my their/they’re/there.  Not because I don’t know the difference, but because I know what the word sounds like, and I just type without paying much attention.  It’s a bad habit.  That's why careful proofreading is key.

DePaul 1Ls even have writing composition (read: grammar) assignments, and a huge quiz at the end of this semester on grammar (and bluebooking).  So I thought it might be handy if I did a post with links to grammar help for those of you who need a quick look up on a grammar tangle.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/  

I love the Grammar Girl website.  Quick and easy to understand, it will clear up any problems you have in a jiffy.  (It certainly helped me understand how to fix messed-up modifiers!)

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/  

I discovered this in undergrad, since I went to school in Indiana.  The Purdue Online Writing Lab is a pretty comprehensive website all about writing.  I highly recommend it when you need a good example to follow.

http://www.plsclarify.com/  

Please Clarify is a blog specifically about legal writing.  It often has little pictures or comics to show grammar fails.  The blog spends time talking about effective communication tactics, which I find helpful and interesting.

And finally, not exactly a link, but something I’ve watched over and over for the last couple days.  It’s a short video, and hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do!

I'll be on Spring Break in about 25 hours!  When does your much-needed vacation (or staycation, as the case may be) begin?